Basel Musharbash
@basel.bsky.social
2.3K followers 930 following 320 posts
Lawyer helping small towns build community wealth & fight monopoly power | Principal @ Antimonopoly Counsel | Hannah Arendt & John Dewey stan | views mine, no legal advice
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basel.bsky.social
This was one of the most appalling stories I’ve ever looked into: A private equity termite rolled up the fire-truck manufacturing industry between 2016 and 2020, and has spent the last 5 years cashing in—contributing to a crisis of preparedness at fire departments around the country.
basel.bsky.social
Anna ... how many times have you wat–– [disappeared]
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
basel.bsky.social
Come work with me, pals! #hiring
basel.bsky.social
Come work with me, pals! #hiring
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
marcelorinesi.bsky.social
Zuckerberg built a hot-or-not "Facemash" the year before Facebook, he's still in charge of Meta and being a multibillionaire certainly doesn't increase the chances of any sort of growing up. He was always a creep, he just has more platforms now.

via @proptermalone.bsky.social @basel.bsky.social
faineg.bsky.social
“Meta has used back-to-school pictures of schoolgirls to advertise one of its social media platforms to a 37-year-old man, in a move parents described as “outrageous” and “upsetting.”

Meta has 100% stopped even *pretending* not to be astoundingly evil.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Parents outraged as Meta uses photos of schoolgirls in ads targeting man
Exclusive: Instagram pictures of girls as young as 13 were posted to promote Threads site ‘as bait’, campaigner says
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
faineg.bsky.social
“Meta has used back-to-school pictures of schoolgirls to advertise one of its social media platforms to a 37-year-old man, in a move parents described as “outrageous” and “upsetting.”

Meta has 100% stopped even *pretending* not to be astoundingly evil.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Parents outraged as Meta uses photos of schoolgirls in ads targeting man
Exclusive: Instagram pictures of girls as young as 13 were posted to promote Threads site ‘as bait’, campaigner says
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
proptermalone.bsky.social
had to read the article to understand wtf was going on here which is that Meta is literally feeding Instagram pictures parents took of their teenage daughters to middle aged men as ads for Threads
faineg.bsky.social
“Meta has used back-to-school pictures of schoolgirls to advertise one of its social media platforms to a 37-year-old man, in a move parents described as “outrageous” and “upsetting.”

Meta has 100% stopped even *pretending* not to be astoundingly evil.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Parents outraged as Meta uses photos of schoolgirls in ads targeting man
Exclusive: Instagram pictures of girls as young as 13 were posted to promote Threads site ‘as bait’, campaigner says
www.theguardian.com
basel.bsky.social
It adds to the gravity of the situation.
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
mattseybold.bsky.social
The senate hearings were spurred by Basel’s reporting earlier this year.
basel.bsky.social
This was one of the most appalling stories I’ve ever looked into: A private equity termite rolled up the fire-truck manufacturing industry between 2016 and 2020, and has spent the last 5 years cashing in—contributing to a crisis of preparedness at fire departments around the country.
basel.bsky.social
Thank you, my friend 🙏🙏🙏
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
mattseybold.bsky.social
Abundance Bros were big mad at @basel.bsky.social a few weeks ago.

Can’t help but note that while they’ve been busy carrying water for kleptocracy, Basel is literally testifying against the monopolization & enshittification of firetrucks.

You read that right.

www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
kim.senate.gov
Today, during a subcommittee hearing overseeing disaster management, I addressed the manufacturers of fire equipment and trucks.

Big manufacturers must answer for why fire departments are waiting too long and paying too much for the trucks they need. 1/2
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
avielroshwald.bsky.social
The collusion seems to include providing the Russian authorities with materials (from their confidential asylum applications!) used to send forcibly repatriated dissidents to prison. The depth of betrayal here is beyond words.
robertscotthorton.bsky.social
BREAKING: ICE is sending Russian dissidents back to Russia. When the dissidents arrived in Russia, the Russian authorities were given documents relating to their asylum applications in the US which under US law are confidential. This seems to be part of a secret agreement between Trump and Putin.
‘I escaped a Russian prison — only to end up in an American jail’
Dozens of Russian dissidents have been expelled from the US and forcibly returned to Russia with the co-operation of immigration authorities
www.thetimes.com
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
tinanguyen.bsky.social
At NatCon, there were two topics dominating everyone’s discussions: the imminent end of the right’s support of Israel — and the existential threat that technology posed to Western civilization.

I wrote about the second discussion.

www.theverge.com/politics/773...
MAGA populists call for holy war against Big Tech
Butlerian jihad from an unlikely quarter.
www.theverge.com
basel.bsky.social
Thanks, Ennie! Miss ya!
basel.bsky.social
Oh hey! Look who’s testifying at their first congressional hearing next week! 😄
basel.bsky.social
Ok, now that I have thought about it a little more, I actually don’t disagree with Max lol
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
goodjobsfirst.org
Elon Musk's SpaceX "has received billions of dollars in federal contracts over its more than two-decade existence. But SpaceX has most likely paid little to no federal income taxes since its founding in 2002 and has privately told investors that it may never have to."
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/t...
SpaceX Gets Billions From the Government. It Gives Little to Nothing Back in Taxes.
www.nytimes.com
basel.bsky.social
lolol this is the way (while I disagree with Max, bagels override all disagreements)
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
davidsirota.com
When the Federal Reserve jacks up mortgage rates, credit card rates, and auto loan rates on millions of Americans, the federal government literally does not count that crushing inflation as inflation.

www.thebignewsletter.com/p/strikes-an...
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
lastpositivist.bsky.social
This piece from Matt Stoller on the shape of the new Oligarchy in the US is interesting - the basic claim is that you have the general post-Reagan scam artistry associated with the GOP tied to a populist personality cult and the result is just bizarre.

www.thebignewsletter.com/p/into-the-a...
Taking a step back, it’s important to see that populism on the right just doesn’t fit, because at heart today's GOP is still the party of Reagan scammers, or George W. Bush confidence men. What we have, instead, is some populist discourse, with the goal of establishing a hierarchical system based on the whims of Trump and the billionaires he bosses around. Our old models, our old language, our old ways of thinking, our old political leaders, just cannot grapple with the oligarchy in which we increasingly find ourselves, and the Amway-style rhetoric and money-drenched politics we are seeing.

We have at least three and a half more years of this kind of behavior to come, and a deeply feeble opposition party. It’s not fun to keep looking out the window at the cliff towards which we are headed. That said, there’s a lot of opportunity to rethink our institutions and the first principles on which they are based, and we definitely need to do that.
Reposted by Basel Musharbash
basel.bsky.social
Well, you know the old saying — first they call your craycray, then . . .